About Us

After some diving in our first country of this trip, Thailand!

Who are the Kiwis and what are they doing?

Firstly, let us start with the basic “getting to know you” information. We are Jacob and Becks (Rebekah), we are from the coolest little capital: Wellington, New Zealand. We are both in our mid-twenties and aspire to travel the globe at our own comfortable pace. Which is mostly quite slow.

Ok, so what on earth is a Kiwi?

It is an endearing term for a New Zealander. It is actually the name of our national and native bird, looks like a small round ball of feathers and with a long beak. Kiwis (the people) are known to be beach loving, barefoot walking, sunshine lovers with a strange accent and seemingly our own unique vocabulary. Ironically, all these Kiwis (people version) tend to leave NZ, but Kiwis (bird version) are actually flightless.

So, what are you doing?

We are Kiwis Embarking (see what we did there? Aren’t we clever) on a trip around the world. Our current focus for the foreseeable future is Europe. We have travelled a small amount through Asia with plans to return. The Americas is also a destination for the future too.

Photographing Budapest

Why did you start a travel blog?

Wanting a place to share our experiences and photographs we started a website with creativity in mind. I actually grew a love for writing through this site. Anyone who knows me knew I’d avoid creative writing like the plague. If only my teachers knew that all you had to do was send me around the world if you wanted me to write.
We know, it seems the internet is inundated with travel blogs. All giving you tips and tricks and inspiring you to travel. So why add another to the mix? Honestly, because we believe that everyone travels differently and each adventure is unique, ours is one of the many stories to be told.

What makes us different?

Everyone’s trip, travel style, views and opinions are different and we think ours are worth sharing.
We travel slow, I travel with illness and we travel on a tight budget, fully self-funded from working.

Yes, we have quit our jobs and intend to travel for as long as we can. We are now living our lives the way we have dreamed of for years. If you too feel that travel bug crawling under your skin, we can either give you ideas, inspiration or simply add to that never ending travel wishlist we all have. Or live vicariously through our experiences 🙂
We wouldn’t encourage everyone to quit working to travel. That’s one hefty and very personal decision. We were luckily in a position that we were able to. We now work whilst on the road and love that the things we love doing to do can be done from anywhere.

Erwan Falls, Kanchanaburi, Thailand

Can we delve deeper into who you both are?

Before travelling, we both worked hard and completed degrees in design. While we obviously still have a passion for what we studied we didn’t want to settle down in to the 9-5 work style for too long, just enough to save to become location independent and see the world.

I, (Becks) discovered and developed a love for photography whilst completing my Interior Design degree. I thoroughly enjoy capturing sweeping landscapes, stunning architecture, and interiors of buildings among anything else that inspires me. Being an animal lover and crazy cat lady I have also combined these two passions. I created the Global CATalogue to share images of the animals we encounter whilst travelling. You can follow The Global CATalogue on Instagram. I am responsible for all of the Embarkiwis photography.

Jacob has always had a passion and outstanding talent for drawing and illustration. He has done all illustration and logo work to develop this website. Jacob is responsible for all videography and its editing when he isn’t working on other projects. His work as a freelance illustrator means his job being easily done from anywhere with wifi and a table.

Although we created this site with the intentions of both contributing, Jacob now focuses on his illustrations and helps me when I have run out of patience to find where to put some code in the text. Seriously, that stuff can be tedious!

How do I keep up to date?

We feel honoured that you want to get to know us and our travels more. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram. There may even be the occasional tweet.

Please feel free to let us know your thoughts and opinions through comments, it will all contribute to helping us grow.